One of our goals as parents, guardians, and teachers is to help develop our children socially and to imbue them with the confidence needed for social interaction. To some children social interaction can be a wearying task. We the parents and adults in the lives of shy children try our best to improve our shy one's self-esteem, self-confidence, and social skills. We often turn to team sports, camps, drama classes and the like for that purpose, all with good reason. However, these kinds of efforts can be complemented through efforts closer to home. In fact, it is within our own playrooms that lessons in social interaction and self-confidence begin. Many kinds of play aid in bringing children out of their shell. One of these forms of play is puppetry.

Puppet play lets children engage in the art of storytelling and performance which is just as much a social skill as it is a creative skill. By telling a story through puppets a child can increase their comfort level in using their voice and having attention focused on them. In other words they increase their comfort level as a speaker but they can do this behind the safety of their puppets or puppet theatre. Also, as storytelling comes into so much of our social interaction (whether it is telling stories about our day, or relating something we read about, etc.), telling stories through puppets gives children a great way to practice this social skill as well.

One recommendation for getting a child interested in the storytelling aspect of puppets as well as to give them the initial confidence when foraying into this style of play is to get them a puppet set from a familiar story. You can often find puppet sets for retelling any number of classic fairytales or fables (such as Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, etc.). Beginning by retelling a familiar tale helps lift the pressure off of the child as to what to say or what happens next, giving them a safe way to practice storytelling and to gain confidence in speaking.

Once they feel more comfortable, the child can then use the same characters to tell new adventures and new stories using their own words and ideas. Generating original material is another social skill and sometimes a social stressor for children. Sometimes children fear social interaction for the reason that they simply might not know what to say, or their own words just don't seem to come to them. Puppetry can give children a chance to practice telling their own stories as well as simple stream of consciousness speaking using words, thoughts and feelings that are entirely their own. This in turn can make speaking their own thoughts or ideas in a social context a little bit less daunting.

Of course, puppet play does not have to be solitary play. Puppet play by its very nature is social play including a speaker and an audience just like many other social interactions. Also puppet play allows for the inclusion of more than one puppeteer/speaker as well, making it a great option for play dates. With perhaps a little bit of adult guidance, even a shy child on a play date will find themselves vocal with their playmate through playing with puppets.

In many ways a puppet in the hands of a child can be a passport towards extroversion from introversion. Through puppetry, children can practice different personalities, different voices, and different approaches to social interaction as well as find their own unique voice. Through this safe form of social practice, children may find themselves feeling more confident and better prepared to speak when called upon to. Remember, we can support our little ones in this venture as well by joining in on the play and of course nothing helps build confidence more than an enthusiastic and receptive audience.

When the weather warms up under the Spring sun, we can't wait to take play outside and shake off the winter blues. We adjust bicycle seats to accommodate for winter growth, dust off sports equipment and hit the parks, soccer fields, baseball diamonds and basketball courts. As well we know spring is a great time for getting active and for kinaesthetic learning, but outdoor play also provides another wonderful opportunity for play based learning and that is the kind that comes from scientific exploration and discovery. As the season changes and the flora and fauna return there is so much that children can learn through fun scientific observation.

Many wonderful toys emphasize outdoor scientific learning.

Here are just a few:

As adults well know, children are fascinated by the insects that they find in the yard and at the park. Through bug viewers, children can see live specimens magnified, measure them and observe their habits before releasing them back into the wild. Bug viewers range from simplistic toys for younger children to more complicated scientific instruments aimed at older children. Basic bug viewers tend to be a simple enclosure with one side magnification that will make the specimen 2-3X larger and possess a large viewing area. Other bug viewers will allow for multiple magnified views or offer a higher magnification (10-20X). Something like this intermediate level bug viewer called the triple bug-viewer allows children to see the specimen magnified both from the top as well as the bottom and sides.

Moving away from creepy crawly insects, our yards and parks are full of fascinating things that children might want to get a closer look at and observe. For magnification on the go, another great product is called the Zoomscope. Children can take this on-the-go microscope and simply place it over a drop of pond water, a leaf, or really anything imaginable to see it 20-40X larger.

Bird watching is another wonderful way for children to study nature through observation. A number of toy companies make high quality binoculars for children's use for this purpose. Children can observe behaviour, flight patterns, nest building, egg hatching, and migration using binoculars. Combine this with a book on bird watching for children (such as Jane Kirkland's Take a Backyard Bird Walk Book) and children will learn how to find, observe and treasure the natural life all around us.

When the sun goes down, a whole new world is open to the child explorer, the world of astronomy. Telescopes are another scientific optic toy readily available for children. Nothing quite delights, inspires and captures the scientific imagination of children quite like stargazing. Children can observe stars, constellations, planets and the phases of the moon while getting a sense of their place in the universe. Stargazing can also inspire children to learn more in terms of science and math so that they can gain a deeper understanding of what they are seeing in the night sky.

From bugs, to bird watching to star gazing, exploration is a natural part of childhood play and a fantastic opportunity for children to learn about the world around them. As children learn about the natural world they gain a much stronger appreciation, respect and scientific interest in the world around them. We can use these learning opportunities not only to bond with our children but also to teach them a little bit about environmental responsibility. In this way we can see this sort of play as a form of environmental education, in a way that we hope will make our little ones grow up to be more environmentally conscious adults.

You need not look any further than your playrooms, local parks, playgrounds, school yards, libraries or wherever it is that children convene and you will see that children are in a constant state of examination, study and discovery of the world around them. Study and discovery of the world by children is derived just as much from traditional instruction as it is from play. It is the latter that I will be discussing heretofore, specifically imaginative play and role play.

Children observe us – the adults who surround and care for them – as we act out all of the intricacies of adult living. Through observing and then re-enacting – indeed through role play – children learn about the macrocosmic world of adults through the microcosmic world of play.

 

Children are drawn to imaginative pretend play so that they can engage in the act of adult copy, whether it is pretend cooking through pretend food and kitchen toys or engaging in the creative play of Dress Up where they can mimic adult careers and roles. Through this kind of play children learn many important social, familial and civic lessons.

Through something as simple as the pretend play of caring for a baby doll, children learn a great deal about nurturing and tenderness. In fact, it is often recommended to get a child on the cusp of becoming a big brother or big sister a baby doll in order to aptly prepare them for the arrival of a new baby and the tenderness needed to be used when playing with the new sibling. This technique also helps to curb jealousy towards the new baby. The new big sibling can take care of their own baby doll while parents attend to their baby sibling, this can make them feel much more involved in the process of welcoming and caring for a new addition to the family. A recommendation for this kind of play would be dependent on the age of the child in question, a soft body doll for younger children and a hard body doll for older children. Preferably you would want something with a number of accessories such as diapers, feeding accessories and so on to add to the play.

Another face to imaginative pretend play is dress up. As children engage in Dress Up and the imaginative play act of roleplay, they also learn the virtues, rules and etiquettes of society and community. Children become citizens through play. When play acting roles such as teacher, police officer, fire fighter, doctor, and so on, children learn through play how to be active members of society. Even fantastical roleplay (be it knights, princes/princesses, fairies, wizards, etc.) provides a vehicle through which children can practice morality and ethics.

Another wonderful aspect to the world of imaginative pretend play (or role play) is the opening for skill development in multiple levels. For example, as already said the drive to copy the actions of adult often pushes children towards pretend food toys; so, a child at a Thanksgiving Feast may crave having their own turkey to carve which can lead them to a toy such as Voila's Chop Chop Chicken. This cut-through wooden pretend food toy will satisfy the desire to copy inherent in roleplay. However, the nature of this play lends itself to many different kinds of learning. As the child separates the wooden pieces by "cutting" through the velcro that holds the toy together using the included wooden knife, they are also developing hand-eye coordination as well as fine motor skills. Furthermore, separating the pieces establishes the early mathematic understanding of basic fractions (the child gains the understanding of whole vs. piece). As well, this kind of toy lends itself to lessons of sharing as everyone playing partakes of the pretend feast.

As much of a child's early learning is developed through play, the importance of roleplay becomes paramount. Not only do children learn about the world of adults through mimicry, but the very nature and act of roleplay open the way for many different kinds of skill development including: motor skills development, speech/language development, cognitive development, and social/emotional development.  As such imaginative pretend play or roleplay is to be encouraged and recognized as an important aspect of not only play but also in developmental growth.

 

Visit Our Booth at The National Home Show!

The Toy Space Inc. is proud to be one of the exhibitors in the Live Green Toronto Pavilion at the National Home Show!

February 18 - 27, 2011

Direct Energy Center, Exhibition Place

Booth # L02

We look forward to seeing you there!

We at The Toy Space Inc. are burstng wth excitment about our new location!

Our new store will be located at: 2 Murray Street East in the heart of downtown Toronto and conveniently located near the subway.

We are hard at work renovating the new space and expect to open our doors early this Spring.

With more shelf space, more play areas, and a more central location... you can expect great things from our new store!

We can't wait to see you there!

 

Christmas and New Years has passed and now we are into what promises to be an extremely exciting year at The Toy Space Inc.

Here is a list of some of the things you can look forward to in 2010:

1) We are expanding! Our second location will be opening in the upcoming months. Located right in the heart of Downtown Toronto, our second location is sure to impress. We're in the midst of our renovation and can't wait to open our doors to another Toronto community. Stay tuned for more information!

2) Now that it is the new year, we will be bringing back our FREE monthly events for families. Keep checking our Events page, as it will be updated as soon as information is available!

3) We are doing another Mystery Gift Card Giveaway with Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People . All patrons attending the Family Day performance of El Numero Uno on February 15th will receive a FREE gift card from The Toy Space Inc., with a mysterious value, and someone will walk away with a $100 shopping spree!

To be the first to hear about all these exciting upcoming events, check our blog often and join our mailing list!

We look forward to seeing you in our store and at our events in 2010!

The Toy Space Family is extremely excited to welcome you to our new blog!

Visit us often to find out about new products, specials, events, The Toy Pick of the Month and all of the inside scoop from The Toy Space Inc.

We love to hear you so please feel free to comment below!